Hélène Kuragina

Princess Yelena "Hélène" Vasilyevna Kuragina (Russian: Елена "Эле́н" Васи́льевна Кура́гина) is a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace and its various cinematic adaptations.

She is played by Anita Ekberg[1] in the 1956 film, by Amber Gray in the New York stage premiere of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, and by Tuppence Middleton in the 2016 BBC miniseries.

Not long after they are married and living in Moscow, Hélène has an affair with their houseguest, the crude but fearless soldier Dolokhov, who flaunts the romance.

Hélène begs him to maintain the marriage, which he does only for the sake of appearances, while she continues to engage in sexual affairs, most notably with Boris Drubetskoy.

Continuing to pursue her social ambitions, she frequently hosts dinner parties for the elite, and her salon becomes extremely popular.